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Lyons trustees review long-range general fund and utility plans as 2026 budget timeline begins
Summary
Town staff presented draft five-year long-range financial plans for the general fund and combined water/wastewater fund, warning that capital projects and conservative revenue assumptions could push the town into the red without new revenue or grants. Trustees asked staff to break out lodging tax and prepare a citizen survey on street priorities.
Town staff opened a budget workshop on Sept. 2, 2025, showing draft long-range financial plans meant to guide discussions ahead of an Oct. 15 balanced-budgets delivery and a November budget adoption. The presentation included a general-fund projection, a combined water and wastewater plan, and a preliminary five-year capital list.
The staff presentation highlighted that the models use current audit-based beginning fund balances and conservative revenue assumptions — notably a 1% sales-tax growth projection and a TABOR-constrained 5.5% property-tax assumption — and are illustrative, not final. The presenter said the TABOR calculation produced a lower allowable increase this year, trimming roughly $20,000 from what a 5.5% increase would have yielded.
On the general-fund side, staff emphasized operating expenses must be covered before transfers, debt service and capital. The draft shows some years dipping into a negative net position because of planned capital projects; staff said placeholders (for example, a $500,000 capital placeholder) remain subject to refinement as project timing and outside funding are confirmed.
The water and wastewater plan shows operating revenues generally covering current operations but large 2027 capital items — including a proposed wastewater plant and water-line replacements — pushing the funds toward deficits once debt service is included. Staff recommended considering smaller, annual rate adjustments tied to inflation or wholesale-cost pass-throughs, and trustees asked staff to model Longmont wholesale water-cost increases as a distinct input to improve transparency.
Trustees pressed staff for clearer, line-item estimates for high-priority capital projects. Trustee Browning and others urged prioritizing Second Avenue (a streets-plus-stormwater project) over lower-priority items and asked that the five-year capital schedule be revised to separate "wish-list" placeholders from projects the board realistically expects to pursue in the near term.
Actions and next steps: staff will (1) break lodging tax revenue out of the general-tax category so future budgets can show a separate lodging-tax line if the town secures a hotel; (2) refine water/wastewater forecasts to include expected Longmont wholesale increases; and (3) circulate a draft citizen budget-survey to trustees for review before public release. Staff repeated the Oct. 15 deadline for a balanced budget that will be discussed in two October workshops and then carried to final adoption in November.
